A brief is a manufactured
product with a deadline.

1Intake, conflicts, and a firm quote

Email the case caption, the court, the date of the judgment entry, and two paragraphs on what happened below. We run conflicts and respond within one business day with a firm flat fee quote and a schedule built backward from the controlling deadlines: in most civil cases, 30 days from the judgment entry to file the notice of appeal under Ohio App.R. 4, and roughly 20 days from the filing of the record for the appellant's brief under App.R. 18. If the timeline is unworkable, we will say so instead of taking the engagement.

2The record and the transcript

We handle the praecipe and the transcript order (court reporter fees are a pass-through expense), confirm what is actually in the record, and flag preservation problems early. Appeals are won and lost on the record that exists, not the one we wish existed, so this step comes before any drafting.

3The issue selection memo

Before the brief is written you receive a short memo: the viable assignments of error, the standard of review each one travels under, what our database shows about how your district has treated each issue, and our recommendation on which two or three to lead with. Appeals that argue everything win nothing; this memo is where discipline gets imposed, with your sign-off.

4Drafting, specialist review, and verification

The brief is drafted against the record and the research, then edited and approved by an attorney certified as a specialist in appellate law by the Ohio State Bar Association. Before delivery, every cited authority is opened in the official reporter or the court's released opinion, read, checked for subsequent history, and logged. The citation verification report ships with the brief.

5Local rule conformance and delivery

Each district's local rules and standing orders govern length, formatting, appendices, and more. We conform the brief to the district hearing your appeal and deliver it filing-ready: sign it yourself with our role disclosed to your client, or have us enter an appearance as co-counsel and file it. Reply briefs, oral argument preparation, and argument appearances are available as add-ons.

6What we need from you

• The judgment entry and docket sheet
• Key filings below (dispositive motions, jury instructions, post-trial motions)
• Your read on the two or three rulings that hurt the most
• A signed engagement letter establishing the co-counsel or consulting structure